“Solidarity is not a one-way street”: Lindner defends the hardship on citizen income

Created: 01/12/2022, 06:00

By: Jens Kiffmeier, Mark Stoffers

Higher standard rate, but sanctions remain: The criticism of citizen income continues.

But for Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), the reform is socially fair.

Berlin – Citizens' income is coming, but the criticism remains: After tough arguments between the federal government and the opposition, the reform to abolish Hartz IV is on the way.

From January 2023, those in need in Germany will be paid higher standard rates.

But maybe there would have been more?

Citizens' allowance 2023 and relief packages: from when and how much?

Christian Lindner (FDP) considers reform to be fair

From the point of view of social organizations and trade unions, when introducing citizen income in 2023, politicians ignored the needs of the socially disadvantaged in society too much.

The accusation: Instead of concentrating on the lower and middle income groups during the energy crisis, billions of euros were poured out over all sections of the population with the watering can in the relief packages.

But Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) rejects this.

In an interview with

and

from

, he talks about why the rich also need to be relieved and why he doesn't want to do anything together with the Union in the future, except for citizen income.

Mr Lindner, do you think the redundancy packages are fair and socially balanced?

The accusation of the watering can often came into play with the relief packages.

In the future, will the higher earners and the rich have to shoulder even more when paying off their debts?

Your question contains a statement that is incorrect.

Why?

The relief packages are socially balanced.

The energy price flat rate must be taxed at the personal tax rate.

And those who have a higher income also have to pay tax on the gas price brake.

Incidentally, I would like to point out that today half of the taxpayers hardly pay any taxes and the other half almost all of the revenue from wage and income tax.

What are you saying to these people?

Social fairness includes mutual respect.

We need engineers and skilled workers alike if our society is to be stable.

Many people have completed a long apprenticeship, are now responsible in teams, take economic risks or secure jobs through their skills.

For this reason, specialists and executives with their higher income should not only be viewed as a permanent goal of redistribution.

Their contribution to the success of our society also deserves recognition.

Energy price flat rate for pensioners instead of higher standard rates in citizen income: Lindner warns against false comparisons

What does this mean for retirees?

These initially came up empty-handed for relief such as the energy price lump sum, before improvements have now been made for December.

Pensioners receive the electricity and gas price brake like everyone else.

We also have the new housing benefit, for example, which pensioners can also receive if they live in their own apartment but their income is not sufficient for the high prices.

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Away from the pensioners, many poorer households in particular feel cheated.

Anger was released when haggling over citizens' money.

Many feel fobbed off with alms in the crisis.

Do you understand the anger?

We spend a very high proportion of our annual economic output on social causes.

Many people who do not receive social benefits, but work full time for a lower wage, turned to me in the citizen benefit debate.

They were not lacking in solidarity with those in need, but asked me how one could waive the obligation to cooperate if someone deliberately refused to cooperate.

So we corrected that.

Citizens' income is not a service that you should take advantage of in the long term.

Her goal is for people to quickly return to participation in the labor market and thus to economic independence.

But does it take revenge that the traffic light applied the watering can principle when it came to the relief and did not specifically relieve only those who really need it?

We had to react quickly after the attack on Ukraine.

That is why not every measure was as it would have been thought up after a long period of preparation.

Think of the 9-euro ticket, which was definitely a watering can decision.

Nevertheless, something good has come of it, that my liberal colleague Volker Wissing can permanently replace the jungle of tariffs with a digitally bookable Germany ticket.

Regardless of the crisis, we have actually deliberately relieved the entire working middle of society.

The FDP also stated this as a goal before the federal elections.

This includes, for example, the increase in the employee allowance, the increase in the basic allowance, the increase in child benefit, and the full tax deductibility of pension insurance contributions. 

Payment of citizen income on the brink: Finance Minister Lindner sees the blockade of the Union as justified

However

, the Union has tattered the citizen money and temporarily blocked the payment

Yes.

The Mediation Committee has actually made the citizens' income better.

Because the CDU has also pushed through old FDP positions.

Hand on heart: Were you happy that the opposition forced your coalition partners to make compromises?

What was important to us has been preserved.

Namely?

The priority of qualification and the better earning potential for the recipients of citizen income.

It is incomprehensible that a trainee who earns maybe 800 euros as a training allowance has to give most of the money to the state because she lives in a family that has received Hartz IV.

When it comes to basic income, a trainee with 800 euros in training allowance now has a good 600 euros.

And what did the Treasury leave before?

The Ministry of Finance is not responsible, but the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

In any case, only a good 240 euros remained.

But that's corrected now.

That was my special concern.

Achievement must be worthwhile.

Anyone who is diligent, who works, must also have an advantage from it.

And the Union wanted clarifications on the issue of citizen money sanctions.

It's no secret: I found and still think these clarifications are correct, because there must be an obligation to cooperate.

We stand in solidarity with people who are in need.

But solidarity should only be used for as long and to the extent that it is really needed.

Solidarity is not a one-way street.

FDP leader Christian Lindner © Adam Berry/afp

Citizens' money as a harbinger of black and yellow?

Christian Lindner (FDP) sees cooperation with the Union as an isolated case

The CDU is blocking and giving the FDP more power in the three-party alliance when it comes to bourgeois content - will we still be dealing with a yellow-black shadow government in the future?

No, that's a misperception.

Citizens' income, as passed by the coalition, was already good and right.

Because the Union's reproach that there was no longer an obligation to cooperate was completely unfounded.

Which is why I only spoke about clarifications with regard to the result of the Mediation Committee.

Nevertheless, from the very beginning they saw themselves in the traffic light alliance as a corrective to the middle-class.

After the point victory in citizen money: What do the partners in the FDP still have to adjust to?

I'm not interested in party-political point victories.

We want Germany to get through the crises well.

We also have liberal modernization projects that we want to implement.

The FDP plays a role in the government as a shaper who makes progress possible.

We make sure that the country stays in the middle. 

Does that mean that after a year of the traffic light coalition, you don't regret the step into the three-way alliance?

It wasn't the coalition we wanted.

It is also a challenge every day.

But we don't shy away from responsibility.

It's about our country.

After the back and forth in the Federal Council, the payment of the citizen's income will now definitely take place punctually at the turn of the year.

The many reliefs relating to the gas price brake are also on the way.

But in the coming years, the debt incurred for this will have to be paid off.

Is that possible without tax increases?

Finance Minister Christian Lindner talks about the effects of high gas prices in Part 2 of our interview.